The Transcendent Longing for Beauty

The yearning in our hearts for the Beautiful is perhaps the most difficult longing to put into words. Beauty is the least tangible of the transcendentals, and has become terribly obscured in our time. We have largely removed Beauty from our spiritual consciousness, replacing it with concepts and doctrines on one hand, or with a preoccupation with self-help and comfort on the other. While those realities certainly have their place, by neglecting Beauty we inadvertently sabotage our ability to touch the fullness of those derivative benefits.

In our natural experiences, we have succumbed to the adage that “beauty is only skin deep,” and have therefore overemphasized the external in order to preserve the fleeting illusion of physical “beauty.” We have separated the idea of beauty from the other transcendentals of love, truth, and goodness, and have made an idol out of external attractiveness. By doing so, we have given place to “the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life” that St. John declares to be from the world system and not from the Father (1 John 2:15-16).

As a result, we celebrate the current fashions of the entertainment industry while conveniently separating them from the ugliness of the narcissism and perversion that characterizes that segment of society. They may be attractive, but because they are not good and true and truly loving, they are not Beautiful.

We are told in Isaiah 4:2 that in the last days of natural human history, “the Branch of the LORD (a reference to Jesus) shall be beautiful and glorious…”. In other words, the Spirit of God will reveal the character of Jesus, His person and work, His attributes and eternal majesty in such a way that will surpass all our comprehension, and we will ultimately be dumbstruck by the overwhelming revelation that He is Beautiful!

We are instructed in Psalm 29:2 to “Give unto the LORD the glory due to His name; Worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.” We are invited to explore the realm of the LORD that is truly beautiful, that will ultimately satisfy our yearning for Beauty, and we are promised that at the return of Jesus to the earth, His glorious and beautiful Kingdom will be truly and completely established.

And we will be satisfied.

Gary Wiens